How to Enable Hidden App Permissions in Android 4.3

Whenever a new version of Android arrives, no doubt we all get excited. Even though Android 4.3 Jelly Bean mostly brings some under the hood performance changes, there’s one hidden feature in the new OS that surely seems interesting and worth checking out.

Hidden feature in Android 4.3

Available only in Android 4.3, there’s a hidden feature known as App Ops that displays permissions which are given to different apps. For example, you can control individual permissions for Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) such as Location, read contacts, vibrate, post notification, camera, etc. If required, you can enable/disable each of these permissions.

However, while this might sound exciting, there’s one problem – there’s no user interface for this functionality. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) might be thinking to provide the interface in later versions, but if you want this functionality right now then there’s an app for this on the Play Store.

You can download a third-party app called Permission Manager that offers a simple UI and direct access to the permissions settings. The app does not require root or any special permissions.

Note that you’ll need to be running on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean in order to try out this app. At the time of writing this, my Nexus 4 device has received the Android 4.3 OTA update and that’s why I was able to try out this app. Launch the app and from the main page of Permission Manager, you need to tap on the app’s name whose permission you want to manage. For example, tapping on Facebook will open more options related to that app where you can fine tune permission settings.

However, you’re advised to proceed with caution as disabling some of the permissions of the app can lead to problems when running it. More control to the user’s hand is not always a good thing, but as they say, there are two sides of the same coin. That being said, if you’re one of those adventurous type and want to try out this app, then get it from below.